From Phineas with love
by shutout
Summary: My first attempt at a oneshot. Phineas gets himself really messed up in an interdimensional problem. T for character death


_You're my special one…_

_To Isabella: If you are reading this message, I shall have disappeared. How or why I have gone, I cannot foresee. But I feel the end is near. Turn then, to the letter Ferb has sent you, and if you wish to know more, turn to my transmission, which I hope against hope would have reached you._

Baffled, she looked to the letter in her left hand, then at the thicker package still on the desk. It had arrived via radio transmission: the message being intercepted and decoded by Ferb. What could have happened to the light of her life? Why was Ferb so secretive? In particular, why didn't he fulfill his required daily seven or so words quota? It seemed that he was almost a walking corpse, and he looked the part as well. What has happened?

No matter. She would find out the moment she opened the letter in her hand. She slit opened the sealed letter.

Even now, she hesitated. Did she really want to know what had happened? Could she survive it?

She withdrew the letter and read:

_Isabella,_

_I must have been insane to let my brother go on. It is absolutely crazy to think of what he is willing to risk! But I suppose you have no idea what he is doing. You do not know what he's going through. Even by his standards, it is one huge project._

_To begin with, you must know he has invented a machine that is capable of travel between the dimensions. Yes, it is possible. He has seen many dimensions, but nothing interested him more then the 2__nd__ dimension. He drops in and out of it, because he sometimes gets closed down by Normbots. For some reason he insisted on perpetually returning to the second dimension, so we agreed on a regular time for him to return and leave. Nothing special: just normal working hours. He departed at nine in the morning and returned at five in the evening. And everything was going perfectly. As his brother, I felt that it was my duty to support him in what he wants to do, as long as it wasn't malicious. How wrong I was._

_Last week, he said he was planning on an extended stay in the second dimension. At the time, I had my reservations: I had no idea how the laws of physics would affect him on the other side. Short stints there were okay, but he was planning to stay there for a week on a matter of "massive importance"._

_Had I been able to travel back in time, I would not have stopped myself. I would have punched myself senseless, and then roused myself to see if any sense had been knocked back into me. As it was, I let him go anyway, and he did not return for a week._

_After his deadline had passed, I began to worry. He finally returned about four days overdue, his clothes in tatters and an angry burn mark on his right arm. I rushed to him. He seemed too weak to even stand, so I didn't bother making him. Instead I sat him down and asked him to tell me the full story. But, try as I might, I could not wring any more information out of him then I could a dry towel. He said he would tell you and only you._

_He said he wanted to return as soon as possible. I explained the precarious situation to him. Anything that interconnects the dimensions has to rely on the statistical interpretation of the second law of thermodynamics. In short, the longer I had to keep the portal open, the more unreliable statistically the connection became. So I had to keep inputting energy into the system. However, the act of inputting this new energy would destabilize it further…Sooner or later something has to give. And when it did…_

_But he was adamant. He said that he could not go on living without settling the questions in the other dimension. I pressed and pressed, but he would not tell me. So the nest day, I sent him off and asked him: "When do you think you'll be back."_

"_I don't know."_

_And that was the last I saw of him._

_P.S: Some weeks later, I was just aimlessly tuning to radio stations when I heard a faint crackling noise. At first, I thought it was interference. But when I moved elsewhere and the sound did not fade, I looked at the numbers on my radio. 97.2 But surely-_

_I turned the knob, focusing in on the sound. Now it wasn't a crackling. Now it was a beeping._

_Beep-beep-beep. Beeeep-beeeep-beeeep. Beep-beep-beep._

_S-O-S. S-O-S. But then came a series of new beeps. When I wrote it all down I couldn't believe what I saw. And it was on our channel, too._

_The message read: DO-NOT-ATTEMPT-RESCUE._

_Then he proceeded to write: PRIVATE. USE-MORSE-TYPEWRITER. I hooked it up to our typewriter and when it stopped chattering, without looking at the sheets, I put it in a bag and sent it to you. I assume you will be the one to find out what happened to Phineas. I do not want to know. I do not what to know what I have done to my brother. You may call me a coward: you are right. I'd rather not face the weight of the world. I cannot. So I beg of you, do not ask me anything else. Let me have my peace. _

_Your unworthy friend,_

_Ferb Fletcher_

* * *

For several seconds Isabella seemed made of ice. She held the sheet of paper in her hand.

Then she made the choice. She slammed Ferb's letter on the desk and picked up Phineas' transmission. Opening the package, she could see a few yellow typewritten sheets. She picked up the sheets and read:

* * *

_I hope radio signals transcend interdimensional boundaries. I have sent this via Morse code because I am incapitated and cannot speak. I can only tap the notes into my portable radio, the only thing that I brought from my last dimension. _

_If Ferb has been faithful to me, you will already know how I have left our dimension for the second dimension, over which Doof rules. It seems pointless, then, for me to repeat what he said. However, I will tell you why I cannot return: not now, not ever._

_Yes, I said that. Put away any delusions I will ever return, because I cannot. I am truly sorry, Isabella, but fate has chosen to tear us apart physically. I can only hope that I still have a relationship spiritually with you._

_I was in the second dimension. There, people just follow the leader Doofenshmirtz. I came across a group called the Resistance quite by accident: when a Normbot asked to see my nonexistent papers, a member of the resistance identifying himself only as Mick destroyed them. He took me underground, to the headquarters of the Resistance. There, a girl who reminded me very strongly of Candace was the leader. _

_Upon seeing me, she turned pale. "How did you…" and then added "Never mind." The whole area seemed to be in lockdown mode. When I asked Mick about it, he said they were preparing for a weekly strike by Government forces. He was out and about rounding up any resistance members who happened to be in the vicinity. Anyway, then the strikes came. Suffice it to be said that the resistance headquarters complex collapsed like a cracked egg, and in about that speed. We had to evacuate. At first I could not see anything, owing to the debris, but slowly my eyes adjusted. Our building seemed to have semi-collapsed, sealing us in. It was unstable and it might collapse anytime soon. _

_But then Mick pointed out a tunnel to me. Unfortunately, he said, it led straight to Doof's HQ, but it was our only chance: would I take it? I said I would and followed him down a dark tunnel. We were halfway through when we were ambushed by a bunch of rust buckets. We staved them off and continued our ride towards Doof._

_Forgive me if I sound like a war correspondent. It's just that I know I do not have much time, and I am already starting to fade out. We got off at Doof's underground entrance and walked into a trap. Suddenly there was fighting all round: bolts of light flying over my head as Mick pushed me down. I will admit it to you: I was scared at that point. But I would have preferred death there to where I now find myself._

_We somehow fought our way to the second floor. That was the ground level entrance: once we got there, we could disperse safely and evade government forces. But somehow they got wind of us arriving-was it the laser blasters or the laser blasters? -and shut that down. So we had to make straight for the command HQ of Doof and try to shut THAT down. If I was a war correspondent, I would be delighted. I had the best seat in the house to a key battle._

_The end came sooner then I thought. Simply put, I was overawed when we reached the third floor, which looked like a physics lab. There seemed to be apparatus of every kind. We walked through, examining the equipment. Bad mistake._

_They sprang out at us from everywhere: left, right and centre. Whatever semblance of order in the Physics lab was totally shattered. However, throughout all the chaos, I could see our right flank. And I could see that there, Isabella was fighting. One moment later, she wasn't._

_She had been taken._

* * *

_I rushed towards her. Was it instinct? I don't know. I must have activated some sort of device when I went to save her. As a result, I ended up being warped to some foreign universe where there was no one. An utterly black, inky sky confronted me, punctuated only by the white dots that are stars. I realized I was on a snowy beach. The snow seemed to be falling, tainting the ocean. Except for me, there wasn't a thing alive._

"_Hello?"_

_I had heard of such universes from my brother before. Apparently, entropy is much accelerated in that universe. What it means is that my beach, the ocean and all the stars I can see-for I can see stars- will disintegrate in three hours. I have much less then that, however, as this planet will lose it's atmosphere and it's oxygen in ten minutes or so. I was warped here about two hours ago. Somehow the air here has rendered me incapable of speech, but not breathing. I can feel some warmth from a nearby star, but that is it._

_So what to do in ten minutes time? Sit at the stars and wonder? Wish upon them before they go out? Watch them extinguish one by one? I don't know.I find myself strangely apathetic and as devoid of life as this barren planet. I never thought I'd be given ten minutes to do what I wanted with the world and then have it destroyed. I have a feeling, though, that you will be able to think of something. You always do. There you go. A problem for my Isabella. A planet will lose it's atmosphere as it is released from it's star's orbit and I will suffocate. Yep, I think wishing upon a star is in order._

_I remember many things, but the last thing that passes through my mind is an image. You. Me. Beating the sun and having the longest summer's day ever. Together. And the adventures me and Ferb would have to-get-her. If nothing else, I will miss those memories. Those are a part of you and me, Isabella, a part we will both take away forever._

_I feel the air beginning to thin. This is now the hour of my death. Good-bye. Good-bye…_


End file.
